Eaterie in minimum wage pay-back

THE White Hart, Lydgate

A TOP Saddleworth restaurant and pub has blamed an administration error after being named by the Government for not paying minimum wage.

The Government's review identified 233 employers who had deprived staff of a full wage, including Penrhyn Inns Limited trading as The White Hart, Lydgate, who failed to pay £807.70 to one worker.

But owner Charles Brierley said: "I have a combined 100-strong workforce and this was an isolated incident with one member of staff, during a four-month period in the middle of his 18 months with me.

"It was an administrative error and once I'd realised the mistake, it was immediately rectified and the staff member was paid an additional 40 per cent compensation as way of apology.

"Following this, I outsourced our National Minimum Wage compliance to a payroll provider to ensure this won't happen again."

The White Hart is joint third top restaurant in Greater Manchester in the Good Food Guide, The Michelin inspectors' Pick of the Pubs Guide and is recommended in the AA Restaurant Guide and the AA Hotel Guide with gold standard four-star rating and two entries in the Michelin Hotel and Restaurant Guide.

The Government says more than 13,000 low paid workers will be handed around £2 million in back pay after investigations pinpointed firms not offering a National Minimum Wage or a Living Wage.

Argos, which was bought by supermarket giant Sainsbury's last year, was the worst offender, having not paid 12,176 people who worked for the firm close to £1.5 million.

Sainsbury's, who flagged the error in February, said the amount was actually £2.4 million for 37,000 people when taking into account both current and former staff.

All the staff have now received their back pay